By Nelson A. King
The regional journalism fraternity
woke up early Saturday
morning with the sad news
that one of their colleagues,
Guyanese-born George Alleyne,
a contributor to Caribbean Life,
was found dead the day before
at his home in Barbados.
Alleyne, who covered Barbados
for Caribbean Life, was 61.
Bert Wilkinson, Alleyne’s
lifelong friend, fellow journalist
and compatriot, who also
contributes to Caribbean Life,
said Alleyne, in recent years,
“had been battling some health
challenges but still found the
time to pound away at the keyboard.
“His death means that he
would also have missed the
chance to have become an
established weekend farmer in
Guyana,” Wilkinson told Caribbean
Life on Sunday.
The online news outlet Barbados
TODAY, for which Alleyne
was also a contributor, said on
Saturday that “the respected
Barbados-based regional journalist
died suddenly Friday.”
It quoted Alleyne’s sister,
Ann Wallace, as saying on Facebook:
“I write on behalf of my
family with utter sadness and
a painful heart to inform you,
his friends, that our dear, sweet
loving brother, father, uncle,
cousin and friend, Ian George
Alleyne, has passed away. May
he rest in peace.”
Barbados TODAY said
Alleyne, who, up until his
death, was a freelance contributor
to the paper, “had a career
spanning more than four decades.”
“We have been shaken by
George’s untimely passing,”
said Editor-in-Chief Sandy
Deane. “He was a valued member
of our Barbados TODAY
family.
“His professionalism, his
insightful knowledge of local
and regional happenings, dry
humor, and kind and humble
nature will be missed,”
she added. “No one was more
committed to the very highest
principles of integrity, fairness,
accuracy and insight that represent
Caribbean L 6 ife, JAN. 29-FEB. 4, 2021
the best journalism.
“We pay tribute to his contribution
to our development,
and endeavor to let his work
and guidance remain with us,”
Deane continued.
The Association of Caribbean
Media Workers (ACM)
described Alleyne as “a committed
and avid regionalist.”
“A staunch advocate of
regional food sovereignty,
George believed his native Guyana
should be the breadbasket
of the Caribbean and, thus,
reduce our US $5billion-plus
annual import bill,” said ACM
in a statement, adding that he
was “ever passionately devoted
to the idea of a vibrant, productive
and purpose-driven Caribbean
civilization and to a craft
that daily seeks to tell its story
as he would – comprehensively,
earnestly and fearlessly.”
The Barbados Association of
Journalists and Media Workers
(BARJAM) also expressed
“shock and sadness” over
Alleyne’s sudden death, conveying
condolences to Alleyne’s
family and praying for “comfort
and consolation in their time
The late Ian George Alleyne. Facebook
of grief.”
Wilkinson said that Ian
George Alleyne started his
journalistic career at the Government
Information Service
in Guyana in the early 1980s.
He then transferred to the
state-owned Guyana Chronicle,
the lone daily at the time,
Wilkinson said.
“Recognizing his talent and
sharp intellect, management
placed him in a cadet training
scheme from which he
emerged with flying colors,”
he said, adding that Alleyne
served at the Chronicle until
around 1989, when he migrated
to Canada.
Wilkinson said Alleyne covered
politics, sports and trade
while working at the Chronicle
and “scribbled a few articles for
ethnic papers in Canada while
there up to mid-95.”
Alleyne then returned home,
spent a few years and then
moved to Barbados to join his
Barbadian father and sisters,
Wilkinson said.
Caribbean Life contributor found
dead at home in Barbados
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